It's all about the name for some Limerick councillors

NEWCASTLE West councillors this week found themselves bogged down in name changes and potential name changes.

As the councillors gathered this Wednesday for their first meeting after the August break, they discovered that the Desmond Hall is now to be called the Desmond Castle.

Meanwhile, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, which has responsibility for the country’s main roads, indicated that changing the road signs from Limerick to include Newcastle West would breach national guidelines on signage.

But Cllr John Sheahan, who, earlier in the year,  had initiated the request that the name of Newcastle West  appear on N21 road signs, said he was ‘flabbergasted’ by the reply.

“Either the person didn’t know what we were talking about or he was too damn lazy to find out. This is a copy and paste answer.” 

It should be sent straight back, Cllr Sheahan said. Including Newcastle West on the signs would not lead to a proliferation of signs nor would it confuse drivers, he claimed.

He believed that the inclusion of Newcastle West could be accommodated within the existing rules.

The proposal was backed by Cllr Michael Collins who said the fight to get Newcastle West on road signs went back over a decade. 

Meanwhile, the issue of what to call the castle in the middle of the town is also creating confusion.

In March last year, councillors were told that the OPW was now calling the castle complex the Newcastle West Medieval Complex and Desmond Hall but they asked that this be reversed.

That request was considered by Minister of State, Kevin Moran in July who  pointed out that “Desmond Hall is just one of a number of buildings on the site and it was considered that the new title more accurately describes the national monument”.

However, he said, he could  understand how the change could lead to confusion for visitors and in light of this, was happy to propose that from now on, the national monument in Newcastle West shall be known as Desmond Castle, Newcastle West.”  

The problem now is that new signs  erected earlier this year point to “Desmond Hall”.